Virus
by The Hash Slinging Slasher
Summary: As the Brawlers fight a powerful new enemy, the line between good and evil becomes blurry. The Brawlers have finally met their match- themselves.
1. Chapter 1

Gandandorf's failure had haunted him for ten years. For the past decade he had been forced to hide in the mountains, scouring for food like an animal. Struggling to survive in the harsh conditions of the rugged mountain terrain. He wanted revenge. No, he needed revenge.

He had not heard his late night visitor arrive; the footsteps had been muffled out by the snow and the crackling of the fire.

"Gandandorf."

The man turned towards the mouth of the cave that had become his shelter. Whoever had said his name was hidden in the shadows, just out of reach of the firelight.

"Who is it? Show yourself!" Gandandorfs hands blazed with his dark, purple energy.

The stranger let out a slight chuckle. "Calm down, calm down. I am only here to propose a deal."

The purple energy died off of Gandandorf's fists. "What kind of deal?"

"A deal that could get you exactly what you want. The deaths of the very people that nearly caused yours."

Gandandorf was still skeptical. "Who are you? How do I even know if you can achieve this?"

"Ah, but this is where you come in. I can only help you if you tell me where Bowser is."

"Bowser? How can that brute help you?"

"He has something that I need."

"What?"

"That is not for you to know."

"Unless you tell me what it is that you need and what you're plan is, how am I to trust you?"

The hidden voice paused, then replied. "I was afraid you would act this way. I suppose I will have to tell you everything."

* * *

The sound of the crowd yelling and screaming inside the arena could be heard from all the surrounding towns. Only one thing could set the crowd into such a state: The Smash Ball. The object that changed the tide of the battle, and generally caused more chaos.

_Just a little higher, and I got it._ Pit thought, as he effortlessly flew toward the Smash Ball. _Just a couple more fee-_but Pit's thought's and upward movement were ended by Kirby's large hammer.

Kirby was just about to swing his hammer one more time, and crush the Smash Ball, when a radical idea struck his brain. _What if I inhaled the Smash Ball? Would I be able to do my Final Smash over and over again? Would I become more powerful? Would I grow?_ Would I change color? Kirby's curiosity was too strong. He inhaled with all his might.

He immediately felt like someone had set off a large bomb inside his stomach. Then, his vision became blurred. He began to fall towards the ground, or was it the ground? Kirby couldn't tell. He felt something solid come in contact with his body, and then, nothing.

* * *

"Is he gonna be okay?"

"I can't believe he did that..."

"Who won the match?"

"Falco!"

"Just wondering..."

"Sssh! I think he's waking up!"

Kirby blinked several times, then opened his eyes. He was met with the faces of his fellow Brawlers.

"Well, I can't believe I actually let you guys bring me down here. The kid's totally fine. You guys just overreacted." Everybody turned around to see who had spoken. It was Wolf, leaning against the door, cleaning his gun with an oil rag.

"Overreacted? He's been out for five hours!" Marth said, pointing to the clock.

"Five hours? That's nothing. When my ship went down on Tartarmus, I was unconscious for five days!"

"What? That's impossible!"

"How would you know?"

"Don't you get into this Link-"

"Why not?"

"Just forget about it."

"No way! This is because I be-"

"When did you beat me?"

Kirby let out a small sigh. Whenever there were more than three Brawlers in one place, at one time, it never went well.

After the argument had settled down, and Kirby's visitors had filed out, Kirby quickly fell asleep.

* * *

Kirby woke up with a start. He had been poked by something sharp. He tried to roll over to see what it was, but found that he couldn't. He was surrounded by a strange assortment of objects. He quickly ballooned out of bed, and floated over to where he remembered the light switch to be. He stood on his tiptoes, and flicked the switch.

After his eyes had adjusted to the light, he gasped. There on his bed were all the weapons of the Brawlers. Ike's sword, Pit's bow, Samus's cannon, several of Snake's grenades, Link's boomerang, and more. Kirby was astounded. He just didn't understand how they had all gotten there. He hadn't seen his friends leave them there... and there was no way they could have put them all there while he was asleep without waking him up... Kirby would've pondered more, but he collapsed with exhaustion. Two in the morning was not a time when Kirby generally did a lot of thinking.

* * *

_Knock, knock, knock._

Bowser whipped his head around. Someone at the door? That was impossible... the defenses surrounding his castle were impossible to penetrate.

_Knock, knock, knock._

Still in confusion, Bower stepped down off of his throne, and walked down the torch lit hallways to the main entrance to his castle. He slowly pulled open the huge door.

"Bowser. I believe you have something that I need." The voice seemed to come from the night itself, the speaker unseen.

Bowser roared.

"A key, to be more exact."

Bowser roared even louder.

"Let's be reasonable here, it's for a good cause."

Bowser looked puzzled. The last time they had used the key-

The voice seemed to read his thought's. "It will not be like the last time. We will use a different strategy, different methods."

Bowser roared again. This was becoming complicated. Bowser didn't like complicated things.

The voice sighed. "I suppose I'll have to take it myself then."

Bowser opened his mouth to roar again, but a black object flew straight out of the night, connecting with his stomach. He crumpled backwards into his castle.

"Nice doing business with you."

* * *

Meta Knight paced the empty halls of the Halberd, his every step echoing throughout the ship. It served as his home, as it hadn't left the ground in a while. He hated having to live in it, because he hated seeing it in this state. Once a scourge of the skies, now several tons of scrap metal. He wanted to live elsewhere, in the woods that had once been his home, but several of the Brawlers had taken residence there, and he couldn't show his face around them. Despite the fact that he had fought on their side in The Great Battle of Subspace, they continued to judge him by his past deeds. The times he had nearly destroyed Dreamland, and other terrible things he had done.

"Meta Knight." The voice could have been coming from anywhere. Sounds carried and echoed almost everywhere in the ship.

Meta Knight looked around, but saw nothing. He swirled his cloak, and disappeared. He reappeared seconds later in the control station of the Halberd. Next to the main speaker, he saw a small computer.

"Ah, I knew you would find me. You are far smarter than the others I have contacted." The voice came from the computer. It was being filtered through some kind of machine, making the voice completely un-identifiable. Meta Knight raised his sword, preparing to slash the computer in half.

"You might not want to do that. I can help you."

"How?"

"I have the key, Meta Knight."

"Prove that you have possession of the key." Meta Knight asked, his true expression remained hidden behind his mask.

"In exactly twenty four hours, one of the Brawlers will fall under my control."

"If this happens, and you truly do have the key, where can I find you?"

"You will find me behind the door that only the key can open."

"As you wish." Meta Knight began to walk away. The screen of the computer changed from black to blinking numbers. 23:58.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Virus. I believe that I will be able to update probably every 1 and a half weeks, give or take a day or two. Please **review** with your comments, criticism, praise, etc. I would especially like to know if this chapter was too long, or too short.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun shone in through the windows of Wolf's hanger. A small screw fell down from the bottom of Wolf's ship, landing on his nose. He shook it off, and continued to work. He was on a small rolling platform, underneath his ship. She had taken some heavy damage from Wolf's last mission, and she was due for a tune-up anyway. In the background, the TV recalled last night's Brawl.

_"One of the strangest fights we've ever seen folks. Officially, Pit is the winner, but Kirby took himself out of the fight by inhaling the Smash Ball, something never before attempted. We believe that Kirby will be-" _the announcer suddenly stopped. He was replaced by different voice. "_Wolf."_

Wolf rolled out from under his ship, glancing at the TV.

_"That's right. You."_

"Ha funny Falco."

_"This is not Falco, Wolf. This is someone who has a lot to offer you."_

Wolf paused. Then he drew his gun, preparing to blast the TV.

_"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Like I said, I have a lot to offer. A lot of money, that is."_

Wolf holstered his gun. "How much money are we talking about here?"

_"Oh, two to three million coins."_

"What's in this for you? You're not just going to give me free money, are you?"

_"I'm afraid not. If you are to receive this money, you must help me in return."_

"Help you with what?"

_"Destroying all the Brawlers."_

Wolf drew his gun again.

_"Three million not enough? Ten million."_

Wolf's finger tightened around the trigger.

_"Twenty five million, take it or leave it."_

"Where can I find you?"

* * *

Birds, insects, rustling animals, the sounds of night in the jungle filled Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong's tree house. Diddy Kong was counting their bananas, while Donkey Kong was asleep on the floor.

_Two hundred one, two hundred two, two hundred three, two hundred four, there. Two hundred four bananas._

"ROOOOAAAARRR!!!"

Diddy Kong jumped up, and turned around. Donkey Kong was standing in the middle of the hut, hands on head. His yell caused birds to fly up from their trees, and scatter across the horizon.

Diddy Kong ran over to see what was wrong, but stopped when he saw what was happening. Donkey Kong's fingers now had two-inch claws, his teeth now had huge fangs. His two eyes had split into four, and he was about four feet taller than he was before, and still growing. His fur became longer and shaggier, his tongue lengthened, turning a toxic green. His arms thickened until they were almost too big for his body, then he let out another earth-shaking roar. The beast slammed Diddy Kong out of its way, and jumped down from the tree house.

Diddy Kong got up slowly, and limped over to the opening of the tree house. He could see his friend blazing a trail through the jungle, knocking over trees, and crushing underbrush. Donkey Kong was headed in the general direction of town. Diddy Kong began climbing down the ladder of the tree house as fast as he could.

Diddy Kong needed to get help. Diddy Kong _really_ needed to get help.

* * *

"Steady...steady...NOW!" Ike yelled, lowering his sword. As he did, several arrows flew at Donkey Kong, embedding themselves into his shielding arms.

"It's not working! He's too strong!"Marth yelled. Diddy Kong had been able to alert them just in time.

Donkey Kong leaped forward, his massive arms raised in a two handed slam. Ike jabbed with his sword, sending a column of flame at the beast's stomach. Donkey Kong fell back to the ground, fur smoking. Toon Link charged out from the bushes, sword raised in attack position, but Donkey Kong swiped him aside with an enormous fist.

"PK-Pulse!" A blue sphere hovered over to Donkey Kong, then merged into him. There were several seconds of deceiving stillness before Donkey Kong shuddered violently as the electricity flowed through him. He crumpled to the ground.

"Victory is ours!" Ike raised his sword in triumph.

"ROOOOOAAARRR!!!" Donkey Kong rose, pounding his chest.

"Yaaaah!" Link charged in. He threw a bomb, stunning the beast, then came in closer with his sword. Donkey Kong swung his fist downward, but Link rolled to the side, easily dodging the blow. The elf quickly popped back up and lunged forward with his sword, making contact with Donkey Kong's muscular chest. The wounds did little to hinder the massive beast.

Donkey Kong backhanded Link aside, and was advancing upon the rest of the attack party, when flashes of red peppered Donkey Kong and the ground around him. He tried to just charge through, but the blasts forced him back.

"Fox! When did you get here?" Ike shouted. He couldn't actually see Fox, but he recognized the shots to be from the space pilot.

Fox replied from the top of large pine tree. "Just got here. How did Donkey Kong end up like _that_?"

"We don't know, we think it mi-" Ike was cut off by the roaring of a plane overhead. Ike looked up. It wasn't a plane. It was Falco's starship.

Falco rained down massive laser blasts as he circled the area, creating craters in the ground. Donkey Kong tried to run, but was pummeled and blasted by multiple shots. When he was sure that Donkey Kong had been totally crushed, Falco peeled off, and did several loops, barrel rolls, and assorted flying tricks.

Fox sighed. "That's Falco... can't go a single fight without doing something completely unnecessary."

Several of the Brawlers had rushed over to Donkey Kong. Amazingly, he was still in one piece. Together, they began to drag the massive body out of the crater it was in, and off the battle field

"We need to find out how this happened to him." Marth said, as he pulled his weight of the unconscious beast.

"We also need to find out how to get him back to normal."Ike replied, he too helping to lug Donkey Kong.

After a long, tiring walk, they arrived at their destination: Central Base. Besides the fact that Ike was pestered to no end about the boringness of the name, it was a great stronghold. The outer wall was made of stone, thirty feet high and studded with old fashioned gun powder cannons. The door was made of steel, and it was opened for them by someone on the inside. The main body of the base consisted of armored buildings at varied heights, connected by clear tunnels. While a few of the buildings had landing pads on their roofs, most had a large domes, inside of which were Gatling guns.

They had reached the door to the main building. Ike leaned over to a small glass square on the wall, and opened his eyes wide. A beam of green light scanned Ike's pupils, then the door opened.

The Brawlers dragged Donkey Kong to an elevator, crammed him in, and sent him up. Then they went over to a separate elevator. Surprisingly, all of the Brawlers that had stopped Donkey Kong were able to fit themselves into one elevator. There was no elevator music in the elevator, as they had voted against this when the base had been built. _Ding_. They filed out of the elevator, then resumed dragging Donkey Kong.

"And...stop." Ike said. The other Brawlers dropped Donkey Kong, and walked out of the cell they had left him in. Ike pulled a lever on the wall, and immediately, the bars of the cell came to life, buzzing and crackling with electricity.

"Fifty thousand volts." Ike said smugly. "He's not going anywhere."

"Now for the hard part. Finding out how this happened, and getting him back to normal." Marth said, staring intently at Donkey Kong.

"I could try some magic..." Zelda said softly. Now all of the Brawlers had arrived.

"It's worth a shot." Fox replied.

Zelda made strange motions with her hands, like she was washing them, then blew golden dust into the cell. Nothing happened.

"Magic? This isn't the dark ages." The Brawlers looked around. The voice was not one that they recognized.

"Up here." They looked up. At the top of the staircase that led to the tunnel that connected the building they were in to the building to their right, was a shady looking figure. The man's medium length, black hair jutted out from under grey fedora. His hands were in the pockets of his trench coat, and his bright green eyes glinted with mischief.

"How did you get in here?!" Ike shouted, drawing his sword.

Ignoring Ike, the man continued to talk as he began to walk down the stairs. "First off, that is not a very nice way to greet someone. Second, isn't it pretty obvious that your friend here was put in this state by someone? Not something?"

"Who are you? What do you want?!" Flames flickered around Ike's feet.

Once again, the man ignored Ike. "It would appear that your friend here was attacked by somebody with the intention of setting him loose on you guys."

"How can you tell that?" Marth asked, restraining Ike.

"Well, for starters, there's that dart in his foot."

The Brawlers moved closer to the cell, and looked intently at Donkey Kong's foot. There, on the tip of Donkey Kong's big toe, was a tiny black dart.

The man resumed talking."And, it must be one tough dart to be able to endure getting shot with a laser cannon. Whoever did this probably made the dart so strong because it was carrying something important. Like maybe an expensive chemical. Or a virus or disease that there might only be a few cells of."

"So your saying he was injected with something?" Peach sounded frightened.

The man rolled his eyes. "DUH," he reached over to the wall and pulled the lever, turning the electric bars of the cage off.

"Are you crazy? He'll escape!" Ike struggled against Marth's grasp.

"Take it easy, he's still unconscious." The man grabbed the key to the cell off of a metal table. He unlocked the cell, and stepped in. From his trench coat he produced what looked like swab. He reached out his hand, and pried open Donkey Kong's fanged mouth. He then ran his swab around the inside of Donkey Kong's mouth, and let go. Donkey Kong's mouth fell closed with a _snap_.

The man stepped out, locked the cell, and turned the electricity for the bars back on. He held his swab up to the light.

"I'll just take this back to my lab..." He muttered, as he delicately placed the swab into a small tube.

"What are you going to do with it?" Peach asked quietly. She was still in a state of shock from when he had put his hand inside of Donkey Kong's mouth.

"I'm going to find out what's inside of your friend." He pocketed the tube that contained the swab. He started to walk away, when Link burst out in questions.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?"

The man's green eyes flashed mischievously. "I'm doing this because I haven't had a case this interesting in a long time."

* * *

Meta Knight, Wolf, and Gandandorf had all met where the mysterious figure had told them to, at the door that only the key could open.

_Knock, knock, knock._ Gandandorf rapped the huge door with his armored fist. It opened. Before them stood the one that had brought them all together.

"Ah, there you are. Come in, come in. We have a lot of work to do."

* * *

**Author's Note: **So? How was it? Shorter than last chapter, I know. But some people have short attention spans. I promise that future chapter's will be longer. I hope you liked the OC that I introduced this chapter. If you have any ideas of how this fic could be improved in any way shape or form, please tell me in a **REVIEW**.

**Disclaimer: ** I don't own anything ever.


	3. Chapter 3

The same man who had visited the Brawlers was now in his lab, peering through a large microscope. The substance he was looking at was incredible. Not only was it alive, but it was rapidly changing shape and size. It wasn't quite an organism... no, it seemed more like a small part of an organism. Or something that could create an organism. And if this substance got inside someone, the consequences would be dire. There would be more than simply mutation. There would be death.

* * *

Kirby tossed and turned in his sleep, his mind plagued by strange dreams.

He was walking down a dark hallway, every step sending an eerie creaking through the floor. The walls were covered with portraits of the Brawlers, framed by dark green vines. Suddenly, the portraits all fell off of the wall, and straight through the floor into a dark abyss. Kirby continued to walk. A voice came from behind a door at the end of the hallway.

"You have an immense power Kirby... if only you knew how to control it."

He flung open the door. Inside was a Smash Ball, hovering gently above the ground. Kirby reached out to grab it, but it was just out of reach. He jumped, but the Smash Ball vanished, as if it had never been there.

* * *

The person standing in front of Wolf, Meta Knight, and Gandandorf, was not really a person at all. He was a hedgehog, like Sonic. Mostly black, with streaks of white and red. Shadow the Hedgehog.

"Please, step in." Shadow said casually, as if he were inviting some friends in for dinner.

They stepped in, and found themselves in what looked like an enormous warehouse. Just about everything was made out of metal, including the huge vats that were scattered about, connected by bridges.

They followed Shadow onto one of these bridges, until they were close enough to the vat to look down into it. It was filled with a writhing purple substance.

Shadow smiled. "Look familiar?"

"This is what we used to create the armies for Tabuu." Gandandorf answered.

"And this is where he got it from." Shadow said, still smiling confidently.

"So this is the stuff you used to make Donkey Kong so weird?" Wolf said, trying to seem unimpressed. "And by the way, you still owe me a whole lot of cash."

"In good time, Wolf, in good time. Right now I have a job for you guys."

* * *

Toon Link was sleeping soundly inside his ship that was docked just off the pier. His fairy companions fluttered around his head. The ship rocked softly as the waves gently lapped up against its sides. Then, Toon Link awoke with a searing pain in his shoulder. He pulled off the covers of his bed, and turned his head to the source of the pain.

_A dart... that's strange..._ then he blacked out, his mind no longer under his control.

* * *

The whir of machinery did not bother R.O.B, in fact it was a source of comfort to him. This was good, as his position as Central Base Commander required the use of a lot of machinery. He had sonar, radar, and visual of a two hundred foot radius around the base. He had a camera inside Donkey Kong's cell, and multiple other things that he had to keep track of. Lucky for him, he could keep the majority of this under his watch by attaching a cord to his main power cell.

_Bleep, bleep, bleep._

R.O.B spun around, and looked at the screen. He had picked up something. A small humanoid figure, approaching at roughly two and a half miles per hour. Possibly Toon Link, Mario, Wario, Ness, or Lucas. He switched to visual, and one hundred ninety feet away, a hidden camera popped out of the ground. It was Toon Link, but he was giving off massive plumes of smoke, and the grass around him was scorched and black.

R.O.B spun back around, and using the hardware in his brain, switched the sonar to show Toon Link's heat signature. Just as R.O.B expected, Toon Link now showed up on the screen as a bright red. This was strange. R.O.B swiveled back around, and activated the speaker that was closest to Toon Link's location.

R.O.B's strange mechanical voice came over the speaker. "Toon Link. What has happened?"

Toon Link continued to walk forward.

"Toon Link. What has happened?"

Toon Link turned to face the speaker. He punched at the air, and a huge blast of fire spun out from his fist, reducing the speaker to scrap metal.

R.O.B was very confused. If that had been magic, his sensors would've detected it. It could be some kind of flamethrower device... R.O.B activated an X-ray scan, but it came up with nothing. There were a million other different kinds scans that R.O.B could have tried, but R.O.B's job was not to scan. His job was to protect Central Base, and that's exactly what he intended to do.

Toon Link sprinted forward, realizing that he had been detected. Then, a high pitched shrieking filled the air. Toon Link looked up. Two sleek, black missiles were heading straight for him. He swept his foot through the air, sending a wave of fire towards the missiles. They exploded in midair, and Toon Link resumed his charge.

R.O.B remained calm. He was not programmed to panic.

R.O.B was about to activate the secondary defense system, when he picked something else up on radar.

_Bleep, bleep, bleep._

A larger humanoid figure. R.O.B activated another camera. It was a tall man, dressed in a trench coat and a fedora. The same man who had visited Central Base yesterday. R.O.B knew that he should be focusing on stopping Toon Link, but this was an opportunity he simply could not pass up. He zoomed in on the man's hands with his camera. If he could get a shot of his fingerprints, there was a lot he could find out. R.O.B zoomed in farther, until he could just make out the man's fingerprints. R.O.B saved the image, then e-mailed it to his 'brain'. From there, R.O.B was able to run a background check.

Apart from some police files, there was very little on the man. He went by the codename Arsenal, because his real name "was too hard to pronounce". He had been a dedicated police detective, but for some reason had decided to go freelance. Then, there was nothing. No medical records, no purchases, no bank deposits, not even a parking ticket. Arsenal had essentially disappeared.

R.O.B stored this information, then activated Central Base's secondary defense system. Or, more accurately, _tried_ to activate the secondary defense system. It would not respond.

A voice came over the speaker." _I have the situation under control."_ R.O.B captured the voice with his 'ears', then ran it up against all possible matches in his 'brain' to see who it was. After several seconds, a match was found. Arsenal.

The voice returned. "_Missiles were a bit of an overkill, buddy. We don't want to vaporize him, just knock him out. I believe that this is the exact same thing that happened to your friend Donkey Kong._"

R.O.B was puzzled. This was nothing like what had happened to Donkey Kong...

"_It could be that his body reacted differently to the virus, or maybe it's a different strain. I don't know. But I know it's the same thing._"

Then there was silence. All R.O.B could do was hope that Arsenal really did have everything under control.

* * *

As soon as Arsenal had discovered the danger of the substance he had been observing, he had immediately jumped into his car and headed for Central Base.

Arsenal's car was not exactly what you would find at your neighborhood wheeler dealer. It was a bright green, teardrop shaped, hovercraft, capable of breaking the sound barrier in under sixty seconds. It was also unable to be detected by radar, sonar, or any other kind of surveillance equipment apart from the naked eye. Arsenal absolutely loved it.

Arsenal flew at a steady three hundred miles per hour, because breaking the sound barrier would also mean breaking the eardrums of the local townspeople. This annoyed Arsenal, as breaking the sound barrier was extremely fun.

After just about six and a half minutes, Arsenal arrived at Central Base. He was about to get out of his car, when he saw a very strange site. It was a small elf, shooting massive amounts of fire out of his fist.

_Hmm... it must be some kind of flamethrower device._"Computer. Activate X-ray scan."

"_Activating X-ray scan._"

Arsenal shuddered. The computers voice gave him the creeps. It came from all the system speakers in his craft, so it sounded like it was surrounding him.

_Beep._

Arsenal turned to the small screen located next to the steering wheel. The X-ray scan had revealed bones, a sword, a shield, a chain-like object, arrows, and a small dart.

Arsenal reached for the door, but withdrew his hand.

_If I were in control of that base, I wouldn't let that little elf get one step closer. I would want to get rid of him._

Arsenal's suspicions were confirmed when he heard a loud shrieking overhead.

_Missiles... whoever's in command must not know that he's being controlled by the virus. That's bad._

Arsenal jumped out of his hovercraft just in time to see the missiles explode in midair.

_I've got to make sure they don't try anything like that again... if I can capture that elf, I can study him and learn more about the virus. A second test subject would really help me in finding a cure._

Arsenal whipped his cell phone out of his pocket, and speed dialed his car.

"Computer, I need you to hack into that base's systems and stop them from doing anything else."

A small loading icon appeared on the screen of his cell phone, then it was replaced by Central Base's options menu. He immediately went to the speakers.

"I have the situation under control." He paused, and then added. "Missiles were a bit of an overkill, buddy. We don't want to vaporize him, just knock him out. I believe that this is the exact same thing that happened to your friend Donkey Kong."

He realized the error in what he had said. "It could be that his body reacted differently to the virus, or maybe it's a different strain. I don't know. But I know it's the same thing_._"

Arsenal hung up, then flipped open his cell phone again. He looked at the Central Base history file, so he could see everything that they had done in the past ten minutes. He didn't want to run out there and find out that they'd released an invisible poisonous gas into the air.

They hadn't. The only things they had done were launch two missiles, ask the elf some questions, take a picture, and run an X-ray scan.

_Well, apparently X-ray scans don't work to well when your two hundred feet away, or they would have noticed the dart._

Arsenal ran to catch up with Toon Link. When he was about thirty feet away, he reached into his coat and pulled out two laser pistols. These pistols would have been familiar to any Brawler, as they were the same kind that appeared as items in the arena.

Arsenal shot, alternating left and right fire rapidly. The first five hit Toon Link, sending him to the ground.

Toon Link stood up, holding his shield out in front of him to block the blasts. He then raised his fist, and released a huge column of fire.

Arsenal rolled to his left, dodging the flames by inches. He then reached into his coat pocket, and pulled out a green cube with a white exclamation mark on it. Another common arena item. Arsenal pushed it into his chest, and it submerged into him, turning his entire body into solid metal.

Arsenal charged forward. Toon Link kicked straight out, torching Arsenal with flames, but it did nothing to hinder the metal man. Arsenal slammed into Toon Link, knocking him backwards. Toon Link popped back up, simultaneously drawing his sword.

Toon Link slashed at Arsenal, but Arsenal caught the blade in his iron hand, and tore it from the elf's grasp. Toon Link reached into his pack for a bomb, and Arsenal took advantage of the momentary pause to let loose a metal fist.

Toon Link staggered backward, clutching his nose with one arm. He put his other arm out, and a chain snaked out from his sleeve, wrapping around Arsenal's arm.

Arsenal grabbed the chain with both his hands, and yanked as hard as he could. Toon Link came flying forward, until his motion was stopped abruptly by Arsenal's knee. Arsenal grabbed the elf's armored breastplate, and picked him up with one hand. He pulled his other fist back, ready to deliver the finishing blow, when with a small _chink_, he returned to normal flesh and blood.

A devilish grin spread across Toon Link's face. He inhaled deeply.

Arsenal knew that he had about half a second before he got torched. Arsenal pulled his fedora off, and held it in front of his face, as if hoping to catch the inevitable flame.

Toon Link exhaled pure flame, and it sped into Arsenal's hat... and didn't come out the other side. The fedora ate up the flames like a hungry animal, and the devilish grin switched places.

When Toon Link stopped, Arsenal discarded him. Then, he reached into his fedora and pulled out a long brown tube, commonly referred to in the arena as a Cracker Launcher.

Arsenal let loose, sending bright, colorful explosions everywhere, and sending Toon Link flying through the air.

When Toon Link touched down, he was unconscious. Arsenal walked over, and slung the elf over his shoulder. He began to walk towards Central Base.

* * *

Ike had seen everything from the outer wall, but he had not understood anything. The hat, the coat, how did all that stuff fit in there? Ike started to walk back inside. He had a lot of questions for this guy.

Arsenal slowly lowered Toon Link to the floor of the cell next to Donkey Kong's. He then stepped out, locked the door, and activated the electric bars. The Brawlers watched him in silence.

"Now, I recommend that you install come kind of cooling device, to keep his fire power's down." Arsenal said, taking a small tube out of his pocket. "This elf was infected with the exact same thing as the big gorilla, but his systems reacted to it differently, causing different symptoms."

"How do we get them back to normal?" Falco asked.

"I don't know." Arsenal paused. Then he added, "but I do know some possibilities."

"What are they?" Marth was becoming impatient. This was a matter of great urgency, and this man was treating it like a game.

Arsenal pulled out his cell phone, and showed the screen to Marth. "This flower could be a possible cure, or this frog's brain fluid, or this fungi, or this snail's slime, or this moss."

"Where can we find these things?" Link asked, viewing the cell phone from over Marth's shoulder.

Arsenal pushed several buttons on his cell phone, and the images changed. "The flower can be found here, the frog can be found here, the fungi can be found here, the snail can be found here, and the moss can be found here."

Ike nodded. "Good. We'll organize search teams immediately."

Arsenal started to walk away, but Ike stepped in front of him.

"What's in that hat?"

Arsenal shrugged. "Who knows?"

**Author's Note:** Sorry about yet another slow update, but this chapter was longer than the first two. I hope you liked it, and please **REVIEW** with comments, criticism, praise, etc.


	4. Chapter 4

The mountain that Pit and Snake were climbing was huge. No, to call such a thing huge would be insulting. It was monstrous. A beast. Rocky, frigid, steep, unforgiving. And Snake had no problem telling Ike exactly what he thought about it.

"Ike, what exactly were you thinking when you sent us to this place?!" Snake shouted into his headset. All the search teams had been given one, and unfortunately, this search team's had been given to Snake.

"What's the matter? Can't handle it, soldier?" Ike asked. Ike had decided that he would oversee the missions from Central Base.

Snake could imagine the grin on Ike's face, as he sat warm in cozy in his bedroom. "Do you know how cold it is here? When I spit, it freeze's before it hits the ground!"

"Well, don't spit then."

"My frozen spit is not the issue! The issue is that we are going to die of hypothermia!"

"We gave you the best cold weather gear we-"

"COLD WEATHER? It's beyond cold! It's probably minus fifty degrees! If you don't-"

Ike cut the connection.

Snake growled. "Hey, Pit. Remind me why we got assigned here again."

Pit continued to hike.

"Oh yeah, that's right. Ooh! Ike! Ike! I can do it, I can do it! I'm the best!" Snake sang in a high pitched impression of Pit. "Then, you dragged me in with you."

"I thought that I would be able to fly to the top, and that you would be able to use you helicopter." Pit said, probably for the hundredth time.

"Yeah, and you failed to realize that it would be so cold, that your wings would be frozen, and that my helicopter would be also."

"I didn't know it would be this cold!"

"It's a mountain, it's always cold on mountains!"

"Not desert mountains."

"There's no such thing as a desert mountain!"

"Yes there is!"

"No there isn't!"

Ike's voice in the headset was so loud, it could be heard by both of them. "SHUT UP! IT DOESN'T MATTER WHETHER DESERT MOUNTAINS EXIST OR NOT! YOU BOYS BETTER FOCUS ON GETTING THAT FLOWER, OR I WILL PERSONALLY COME DOWN THERE AND BASH YOUR HEADS TOGETHER!"

Ike cut the connection.

Snake's ears were ringing, but he still managed to hear Pit's comment.

"They do exist."

* * *

Stars, galaxies, nebulas, and solar systems flew by, each one of them blurred into a bright smear on the windows of the cockpit.

Fox and Falco's starships were like grains of sand in the mighty void of space. Black holes, pirates, supernovas, the dangers of space were infinite. But, that's exactly why Fox and Falco liked it so much.

Fox and Falco could have set their ships on autopilot, as it was going to be awhile before they reached their destination, but they didn't. They loved to fly, even if it was just a straight forward, point 'A' to point 'B' flight.

An explosion shattered the silence of space. Falco looked over, and saw Fox's ship careening downward.

Falco shouted into his radio. "Fox?! Fox?! What was that? Are you okay?"

Falco was answered with static. He pulled into a steep dive, flying his ship up next to Fox's. That's when he saw them.

The ships that had attacked Fox were black, with trace's of blue. Their main bodies were small, but had three huge wings on each side. One angling upwards, one down, and one sticking straight out. Each wing had a large laser cannon on the end.

Falco didn't waste any more time examining the strange ships. He immediately opened fire, flying straight forward into his opponents.

The spider-like ships returned fire, ignoring Fox. They shot furiously at Falco, as he weaved in and out among them.

Falco spun, looped, twisted, dived, and put into action any other evasive maneuver he could think of. He fired a constant blast of blue laser, but the spider ships had powerful shields, and it had almost no effect.

An explosion rocked Falco's ship. Then another... then another... he had to get out.

Falco pushed a button on the control panel, and his chair slid away, revealing a small spacesuit . He put it on quickly, then pushed another button on the control panel. This time, a section of the floor slid away, revealing a slim jetpack.

He strapped it on, and shot out of the cockpit like a bolt from a crossbow. Blasts from the enemy flew around him, and he heard his ship explode in the distance.

He rocketed forward, blue flames tailing behind him. No one could hit him now. It would be virtually impossible.

One of the spider ships caught up to Falco. It pulled closer and closer, until Falco could've reached out and touched it. Which he did.

Falco whirled around, and smashed himself up against the glass windshield. From afar, the shields of the craft would protect it against anything, but up close, it was just five inches of glass.

Falco pulled out his gun. For now, sheer force was keeping him on the ship, but if the driver got smart and started going in reverse, Falco would be in big trouble.

Falco fired repeatedly at the windshield, but to no avail.

_There must be some kind of mini-shield that's stopping my shots from penetrating. Time to do this the old fashion way._

Falco grabbed the barrel of his gun, and started smashing the glass with the butt of the gun. It slowly began to crack.

Energy shields are able to stop lasers because they disperse all the electrons and molecules, thus minimizing the impact of the laser. But, because a gun is much more solid than a laser, it cannot be dispersed.

Finally, the glass cracked all the way, allowing Falco entrance to the craft. Falco jumped in, ready to take care of the pilot, but there was no one in the strange craft.

_Hmm... an unmanned ship...which means..._Falco's digits flew across the controls, as holographic screens opened and closed around him.

Outside, all of the other ships were shutting down. The roar of engines fell to a dull hum.

_Which means their all connected by a central mainframe._ Falco smiled. He had a whole lot of gloating to do when he saw Fox.

* * *

A cold wind whipped dead leaves around Arsenal's feet as he opened the gate to the cemetery. It opened with a loud _creeek, _and he stepped inside.

As Arsenal walked among the graves, the moon provided him with just enough light to make out the names. He shivered, and he wished he could've said it was from the cold.

Finally, in a forgotten corner of the cemetery, Arsenal found what he was looking for.

A great feeling of relief flooded over him. He lived in constant fear of this person somehow coming back, and he often visited the grave so that he could sleep at night.

Arsenal took off his hat, and put it over his heart.

"Rest in Peace, Shadow."

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything.


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